WinMTR: a convenient tool for network diagnostics

MTR is a cross-platform utility for network diagnostics in the terminal. It combines the capabilities of traceroute and ping: like traceroute, it shows the packet route and a list of intermediate nodes, but additionally, in real time, it calculates the percentage of responses and the delay on each “hop” between your computer and the remote machine. 

Next we will tell you how to use MTR on Windows.

Use on Windows

For Windows, it is most convenient to use WinMTR. The sequence here is simple:

1. Download archive and run the program as administrator.
2. If you want to see IP addresses instead of host names, disable the Resolve names option in the settings.

3. In the Host field, specify the site domain or IP address of the server to which you want to check access.
4. Click Start and begin the test.

Wait until the Sent counter reaches at least 100. You can stop the check at any time with the Stop button, but the more requests sent, the more accurate the picture. It is convenient to download the finished report via Export TEXT and transfer it to a specialist.

What do key indicators mean?

• Hostname — host name or IP address. The value often indicates that ICMP is blocked on this host.
• Nr is the serial number of the node in the route.
• Loss% — the share of lost responses from this host (in percent).
• Sent — how many requests were sent to the node.
• Recv — how many responses were received.
• Best — minimum (best) delay.
• Avrg — average delay, ms.
• Worst — maximum (worst) delay.
• Last — delay of the last received packet.

How to read results

Pay attention to persistent problems that are repeated across multiple resources at once. A reason to take a closer look is if the losses are ~5% or higher (Loss ≥ 5%) or the average latency is high — about 350 ms or more (Avrg ≥ 350). Such metrics help you quickly understand where exactly the bottleneck occurs on the route — at the provider, on the backbone, or closer to the target server.

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